“That’s my shirt, Sophia. Take it off!” “Daniel! Get off my bed!” “Isabelle, get out of the bathroom!” It was 6:45 am and my three kids were already fighting. My wife Eleanor and I have tried everything. We talked to them about how important it is to have a good relationship with your siblings, made […]

Earlier this year I returned from a two-day meeting on the West Coast. The schedule was reasonable and the travel, this time, was easy. Still, it took me an entire week to recover. It didn’t use to be like this. Maybe I’m getting old? Although business travel can be exciting and even fun, it is […]

I perused the restaurant menu for several minutes, struggling with indecision, each item tempting me in a different way. Maybe I should order them all . . . Is this a silly decision not deserving deliberation? Maybe. But I bet you’ve been there. If not about food, then about something else. We spend an inordinate […]

I was biking with my friends Eric and Adam, both far more skilled and experienced mountain bikers than I, on terrain that was slightly beyond my own skill. I thought I could do it. I was wrong. I suffered a pretty dramatic crash, falling down a ravine, flipping over a few times, and hitting my […]

“Whoa! What are you doing?” I asked aghast. I had just walked into my daughter’s room as she was working on a science project. Normally, I would have been pleased at such a sight. But this time, her project involved sand. A lot of it. And, while she had put some plastic underneath her work […]

A client of ours, Jeff*, was the CEO of a high tech, fast growth company and he had a reputation for losing his temper. He once threw a telephone across the room. And a chair. But, mostly, he raised his voice and criticized. Not always — but often. We were at a two-day offsite meeting […]

I was opening the mail (the real mail, the one delivered by an actual, live person) and between the bills and solicitations, was a single letter, addressed to me, in sloppy — but recognizable — handwriting. Recognizable because the handwriting was mine. At first, I didn’t recall sending myself any mail. I opened the letter […]

When we were in college, Eleanor, then my girlfriend (now my wife), wanted me to take a Myers-Briggs type test, a personality assessment that would categorize me into one of 16 boxes, each box containing four letters that would explain me. I didn’t want to do it. So she made it easy for me. “Come […]

For many years — almost as long as he could remember — Ian* owned and ran a successful pub in his small town in Ireland. Ian was well-known around town. He had lots of friends, many of whom he saw when they came to eat and drink, and he was happy. Eventually, Ian decided to […]

George*, a managing director at a large financial services firm, had an uncanny ability to move a roomful of people to his perspective. What George said was not always popular, but he was a master persuader. It wasn’t his title — he often swayed colleagues at the same hierarchical level. And it wasn’t their weakness […]